Milwaukee’s Mayor sticks with Biden

The News

Republicans held their national convention in a city they don’t usually have much praise for: Milwaukee. In 2022, they used images of crime in the city to attack Democrats around Wisconsin. In the run-up to this week, Donald Trump reportedly called the city “horrible,” then explained that he was “concerned” by the crime there. None of this was fun for Mayor Cavalier Johnson, who’s presided over a post-pandemic decrease in crime, and spent months talking up his city, while trying to ensure that Trump lost his state.He talked with Americana just outside the RNC, and this is an edited transcript of the conversation.

Q&A

AMERICANA: One story that Republicans are telling this year, in Milwaukee, is that crime’s out of control, and Democrats are responsible. Clearly things have been improving here, so what’s your response to that story?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: Certainly, Republicans outstate [outside Milwaukee] think that crime happens in cities and leaders like myself are okay with it. I can tell you, people of color who live in cities, myself included, are no fans of crime. If somebody causes death or harm or destruction in our city, there has to be a price to pay for that. So you’ll see me working to make sure that we boost the number of police officers in Milwaukee, and at the same time, see me working to get young people connected to mentorship opportunities and summer jobs.

We’ve actually been seeing crime drop in Milwaukee. That’s in partnership with President Biden’s administration, using a lot of the resources that they delivered to cities to support police officers.

AMERICANA: You’re talking about COPS funding?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: Absolutely that, plus the American Rescue Plan. It helped us keep cops on the street, helped us to make sure that we could build more affordable housing.

AMERICANA: So what are you worried about from a second Trump administration?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: We didn’t see that sort of investment directly to our communities under the previous administration. That’s an indication of what could happen in the future. President Joe Biden got direct support for cities. We just haven’t seen that in the past.

AMERICANA: One Trump idea, which got talked about at the convention, is mass deportation, and using whatever resources he can to remove illegal immigrants. What would your posture be if he wins and asks for the city to help with that?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: It’s extremely troubling for folks who live in the most diverse place in the state of Wisconsin. We’ve also got the largest Latino population in the state of Wisconsin, roughly 20% and growing. To tell people, you’re gonna get picked up and deported — that’s a problem. And people who are immigrating to the United States, they’re taking jobs that typically Americans are not working. They add value to our economy, and to simply pick folks up and deport them, I think would send shockwaves.

AMERICANA: There’s talk about enforcing that; if your city’s not cooperating with ICE, you’re going to get your funding cut.

CAVALIER JOHNSON: The federal government has its own responsibilities, as it relates to immigration. Milwaukee police officers are not immigration officers. Historically, we haven’t done that. We wouldn’t be doing that in the future.

AMERICANA: One argument Republicans are making about JD Vance, the vice presidential nominee is that he can play in the Midwest. What opening do you see for him now?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: I think that JD Vance is most well known here, politically speaking, for his positions of being anti-Trump, for saying that Trump is cultural heroin. Donald Trump had a vice president from the Midwest, Mike Pence. And that didn’t work out too well for him in 2020. President Joe Biden’s got a strong story to tell, with his own roots in Scranton.

AMERICANA: Why has the president’s image softened in four years, though, especially with Black men, despite the record you’re talking about?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: Inflation is cooling, but folks experience things by how affordable things are. President Joe Biden is fighting every single day to bring those impacts down on folks. So I anticipate that that’ll continue to resonate. I also think that Joe Biden’s the sort of guy that just puts his head down and does the work. He’s not trying to showboat. He’s trying to get stuff done. And so he’s got to get out there and continue to tell the positive story about what he and his administration has accomplished for the American people.

AMERICANA: How much of a problem is his age and the perception that he’s too old to do the job?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: They’re practically the same age. What, they’re three years apart? When someone has lived as long as Donald Trump or Joe Biden, I don’t think it’s an issue.

AMERICANA: Do you want the party to have a virtual nominating vote before the convention, and just end the question of whether he’s going to be the nominee?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: It doesn’t really matter to me. I’m a delegate. I’m going to Chicago to cast my ballot to vote for Joe Biden to be the Democratic nominee. He is our nominee. He went through primary contests that anybody could have joined if they wanted to. He cleared the field because he’s got a strong record to run on. He’ll be the nominee, and he’ll go on to win the election.

AMERICANA: Could the vice president, if she was the nominee, win Wisconsin?

CAVALIER JOHNSON: I’m not going to speculate. We have a nominee. His name is Joe Biden. The convention will be next month. We’ll support him. Then he’ll be the nominee, and he’ll go on to win the election.